mooring Sonning and Henley Moorings

[Alan Wheeler]

Can anyone recommend where to moor at Sonning and Henley?

 

We plan to moor for one night (<24 hours) at Sonning, but a moor for a couple of nights at Henley. We are happy to pay for good mooring especially if there is a power hook up.

 

Is there normally a good choice of moorings?

 

We have a 60' narrow boat.

 

Thanks,

 

Alan

[Tony Brooks]

Public EA moorings maybe 200 yards above Sonning Lock, no hook ups.

 

Paid for mooring (expensive) in Henley on the Oxfordshire bank from just below Marsh lock all the way down the park to almost Hobbs yard. Then on the other bank from the Leander Club all the way to almost Hambledon lock. I think overnight on the Council Moorings was £8 unless its festival or Regatta time then its much more. Still no hook up as far as I know.

 

As with all Thames moorings at this time of year get there early afternoon and hope.

[OldGoat]

The moorings above Sonning lock past the BlueCoat school boathouse are free but 'informal. however the best one(s) may have a 'resident on them. There are trees on both sides which make them a bit dark. There are more below, but these are very popular and I don't know whether they're 'in the gift' of the lockie (free for first night anyway). No 'leccy.

Well below the lock and the bridge and towards the end of the houses there arre better moorings but chargeable 'Known locally as 'Uri Geller's moorings'  Further downstream nearer Shiplake  there are nice end of field spaces but very 'bankside' !

 

Henley is better with two sets of choices. Well below the lock there are a run of moorings, chargeable  for overnight. If picking up one of those I suggest you approach them from downstream (as a matter of good practice and not what one journalist of some notoriety did fro upstream)

 

Beyond Henley bridge all the moorings right up to Hambledon on both sides are run by SRB moorings who will come alongside as soon as you cast a rope ashore and exttract £10 - or is it more (we only stop there it we have to...). He's a great guy, but gets fed up with complaining boaters.

No hookups anywhere.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 20, 2020 by OldGoat

[magnetman]

There is a mooring above Shiplake lock with two electric points. It's between the water point and the bins so not a particularly nice spot. I think it's meant for charging electrically propelled boats but last week I saw a boat moored there which was not using the electric. Something like £12 per 24hrs but could be more. Electric is probably chargeable by usage. I've never used the mooring but it is interesting.

 

Might be worth phoning the keeper at Shipwreck lock if electric is important.

 

Other than that I'd recommend ten minutes downstream of Henley bridge on the left (going down) nice moorings with a short walk to town.

 

Tenner for 24 hours or part thereof and yes Steve will come and collect it either in the boat or in the Hilux. And no he won't take no for an answer and if I am on the boat with him at the time I get called in to do the persuasion enforcement for awkward boaters 

 

 

Edited August 20, 2020 by magnetman

[OldGoat]

43 minutes ago, magnetman said:

There is a mooring above Shiplake lock with two electric points. It's between the water point and the bins so not a particularly nice spot. I think it's meant for charging electrically propelled boats but last week I saw a boat moored there which was not using the electric. Something like £12 per 24hrs but could be more. Electric is probably chargeable by usage. I've never used the mooring but it is interesting.

 

Might be worth phoning the keeper at Shipwreck lock if electric is important.

 

Other than that I'd recommend ten minutes downstream of Henley bridge on the left (going down) nice moorings with a short walk to town.

 

Tenner for 24 hours or part thereof and yes Steve will come and collect it either in the boat or in the Hilux. And no he won't take no for an answer and if I am on the boat with him at the time I get called in to do the persuasion enforcement for awkward boaters .

 

43 minutes ago, magnetman said:

 

 

If it softens the financial blow - the rates aren't fixed by Steve but by HRR who own (/whatever) the land and is set to keep them well stocked with pink ties and hats (joke)

 

I think the 'leccy is not available at the moment as a result of EA not handling liquid cash / cash machines and that would probably override the fact that you have a card - but I may well be wrong...

[Mike on the Wey]

The Henley moorings operated by the Town Council are now £10 per night, but free between 1000 and 1500 (which I think is very fair). Literally miles of space below Henley Bridge, both sides - £10 per night. If you want electrickery maybe try Hambledon Marina? But you might be a bit too long. Otherwise your nearest hookup is at Thames & Kennet Marina. 

Sonning is chargeable below the lock (Uri) but free above (beyond Bluecoat). 

[Keeping Up]

Incidentally if you stop on the park at Henley during the day (free) as soon after the lock as possible, it is only a few minutes walk to Tesco to stock up with supplies.

 

BTW does anyone know what is the position re Uri Geller's old moorings below Sonning? All the old signs, including Uri's phone number, the ones saying they are owned by the Hotel, & the DE enforcement ones, are still there.

[OldGoat]

12 hours ago, Keeping Up said:

Incidentally if you stop on the park at Henley during the day (free) as soon after the lock as possible, it is only a few minutes walk to Tesco to stock up with supplies.

 

BTW does anyone know what is the position re Uri Geller's old moorings below Sonning? All the old signs, including Uri's phone number, the ones saying they are owned by the Hotel, & the DE enforcement ones, are still there.

The DE mob are an absolute shower - if you want to check a mooring online, their website is a shambles - well it is using a laptop, their search engine has run out of coal - it had not heard of 'Sonning' and a whole lot of grizzles about pinching other organizations web pages - but they are good (I believe) at issuing parking fince 'cos they can do that all online without any effort. Uri's location is not listed, the DE signs are old and they look like EA ones, when I think they had a trial running with EA that was ended / cancelled.

A mess - on which of course they rely.

All in my opinion, you understand.

 

[Markinaboat]

On 20/08/2020 at 21:32, Keeping Up said:

Incidentally if you stop on the park at Henley during the day (free) as soon after the lock as possible, it is only a few minutes walk to Tesco to stock up with supplies.

 

BTW does anyone know what is the position re Uri Geller's old moorings below Sonning? All the old signs, including Uri's phone number, the ones saying they are owned by the Hotel, & the DE enforcement ones, are still there.

We moored up outside Geller's pad 3 weeks ago. Still a sign asking to put £10 in the letterbox which we did.

[Dave123]

On 01/09/2020 at 21:26, Markinaboat said:

We moored up outside Geller's pad 3 weeks ago. Still a sign asking to put £10 in the letterbox which we did.

Also, if you ask nicely and pay up front they are ok with longer than 24 hours. Or they were a few years ago.